1. Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments of the disclosure relate in general to the field of computers and similar technologies, and in particular to software utilized in this field. Still more particularly, it provides a system, method, and computer-usable medium for the packaging of software.
2. Description of the Related Art
The complexity, and diversity, of today's information processing technologies continues to grow without abatement. Users and enterprises alike have an ever increasing need for personal computers, servers, and mobile devices that contain various installed software modules that include operating systems, utilities, applications, and device drivers. Typically, many of these software products come from different software vendors, although they may be combined into a “package” that comes either preinstalled on a system, or installable as a single process.
Such packages help automate the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing software packages from a system, whether it is large or small, complex or simple. Unfortunately, interaction between different software components, even when they are provided by the same vendor, are often complex, difficult to manage, and contradictory. Furthermore, due to their respective interdependencies and their reliance on underlying hardware components, they may conflict with each other, causing a system to slow down, lock-up, or crash.
Identifying these interdependencies, and their potential affects can prove challenging, especially given the seemingly infinite number of system configurations available. For this reason, system manufacturers and vendors, as well as enterprises, make significant investments in an attempt to determine hardware and software combinations that are known to work and be stable. Nonetheless, such efforts are costly, time consuming, and error prone. As a result, outsourcing the production and testing of software packages has become commonplace. However, such outsourcing introduces its own set of attendant issues, which include securing access to corporate information assets. Another issue is providing properly configured systems for testing packages. All too often, outsourcers attempt to test software packages on internal machines, thinking “close enough” is “good enough.” In addition, differences in time zones can make communication difficult between information technology professionals and outsourced resources, not to mention the management, sequencing, and prioritization of work processes.